Will Dual Boot destroy the original Dell System Restore?

Hello,

I have two Dell notebooks, a XPS 1210 and an Inspiron 6400.

One runs under Vista, the other under XP. I now have a dual boot system in my 6400, for which I used a new HDD in which I installed both OS. It runs great.

Now I am thinking of having both notebooks with dual booting, using the originals HDD/OS, to which I will add "the other" OS.

I will probably sell one of the notebooks, and therefore I would like to keep and use the System Restore facility/option that came with the machines, to be able to sell it "as new".

Installing XP with Vista already installed requires to shrink the "C" partition and create a new one with the new free capacity available, which will be used to install XP.
After installing XP, what will happen to the other 3 partitions, the "restore", the "Media", the other...? Will they still be functional, work properly? Will I be able to restore to the "as shipped" condition if I want to?

And...if I do viceversa - install Vista in an already installed XP? I have to check the how-to for this one, as I do not know if I have to/can shrink, format or what.

Appreciate you help.

 

I am pretty sure that any change in partitioning will cause the "restore to factory image" function to no longer work. There is probably in theory a way to put the partitioning back the way it was later, if you recorded the exact details, but if you want to be certain I wouldn't change partitions. There is a way to re-create the media direct stuff if it gets lost. I have heard that some people take snapshots (like with ghost) of the restore partitions and put them back later. That is all very tedious and risky though. Perhaps you could use VMWare or similar for the 2nd OS, or if you want to sell the machine later throw a different drive in there and keep the original to sell with the system.

 

I have done that, used ghost to "copy" the restore partition, then do whatever I did to the C partition, and then copy back the restore partition. It didn't work. I guess that the "instructions" on how to do the restore are very specific, and would need to be changed to take into account the new structure of the hdd.